


Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

by Will_Mckenzie



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hopefully wont be shit, My reimagining of the game, Replaced Rosh because fuck Rosh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-05 11:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12189519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Will_Mckenzie/pseuds/Will_Mckenzie
Summary: (Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars Legends, or any character canon to star wars legends lore such as Kyle Kataran, Luke Skywalker, or Jaden Korr, this is my reimagining of a game I am a fan of, all right go to their holders etc etc)Fourteen years after the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi are back, and a new threat rises...





	1. Prologue

STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHT: JEDI ACADEMY

_ Ten years after the Battle _ _   
_ _ of Endor, the IMPERIAL _ _   
_ _ REMNANT continues to _ _   
_ _ be driven back by the _ _   
_ _ NEW REPUBLIC, forcing _ _   
_ _ the Imperials to adopt _ _   
_ _ increasingly desperate _ _   
_ _ tactics in the ongoing _ _   
_ _ struggle. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Meanwhile, Jedi Master _ _   
_ _ LUKE SKYWALKER _ _   
_ _ moves to restore the _ _   
_ _ JEDI to their formal place _ _   
_ _ as peacekeepers of the _ _   
_ _ galaxy at his JEDI _ _   
_ _ ACADEMY on Yavin 4. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ JADEN KORR, a _ _   
_ _ promising student from _ _   
_ _ Coruscant, is en route to _ _   
_ _ the Academy after _ _   
_ _ achieving the impossible: _ _   
_ _ creating a lightsaber _ **_  
_ ** _ without any formal Jedi _ _   
_ __ Training…

 

**Prologue - Arrival**

 

The shuttle  _ Yavin Runner II  _ descended to the planet of its namesake, Yavin IV, towards the Jedi Praxeum, on board the shuttle was perhaps the most promising student of the Jedi Order, though...he was not a student yet.

 

The zabrak Jaden Korr stared out the viewport as the shuttle entered the atmosphere, the black of space turning to a dark blue, slowly growing lighter and lighter until it was a brilliant blue light, the cloud cover the ship then entered broke fairly quickly, and Jaden saw an endless jungle expanse below him, a few moments later he felt a tap on his shoulder, looking behind him he saw two people, one human and the other Twi’lek, the human, male like him, had short black hair tied in a topknot, he was also built similarly to Jaden, slightly muscled, the female was different, she seemed to be built like a swimmer, both seemed to be his age or around it.

“Hey there, Jaden is it?” asked the male, he had a strong Mantellian accent.

“Yeah” he responded not unkindly.

“Well me and my fri-” he began but was cut off by the Twi’lek girl next to him.

“We wanna see your lightsaber” she chirped, her voice had a slight Twi’lek accent, not that Jaden was surprised by that, she was a Twi’lek after all. He took out the lightsaber -  _ his  _ lightsaber, he had hanging on his belt, the hilt was long and slender, lacking a glamour due to being made from old scrap, he presented it to the both of them and their faces lit up in wonder.

“Thats awesome” said the female, her friend grunted. “We’ll have to make do with training sabers…” he sulked. Jaden was about to ask their names but then the ship rattled and rocked, at first Jaden thought it was just turbulence, then the ship's engines exploded, the force screamed at him and he ducked in his seat, the ship began to visibly plummeted, trailing smoke, the jungle floor got closer...closer...Jaden gritted his teeth as the ship impacted the ground, darkness tugged at the corners of his vision as she ship threw around, then he saw no more.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slow updates begin here

Chapter 1  
Jaden woke up, he had no idea how long he had been out, but judging by the new color of the sky, orange-yellow, it had been hours, he felt his lightsaber still in his hand.  
“Thank kriff It didn't go missing “ he muttered, he tried to pull himself up but a stabbing pain in his left leg kept him on the ground, he moved his head to the side and saw it, the ship had been torn in half by the crash, one side of it lay across the banks of a river, making an informal bridge, the other half, the end hed been in was laying sideways dug into the ground, the entrance blocked by dirt, Jaden hoped no one was in there. These thoughts were dashed when a heavy pounding began resonating from inside the shuttles corpse, it echoed off its own surroundings and Jaden couldn't tell who it was that was yelling or specifically what they were yelling, He winced and forced himself to stand up through the pain from his leg and limped over to the shuttle, he walked abreast of the hull a bit away from the pounding and took his lightsaber from his belt and pressed the activation button, a brilliant yellow blade shot from the hilt of Jaden's self made weapon, he drove the blade into the hull, the weapon cutting through the durasteel like so much cloth, he dragged the blade through the hull in a pattern, making a large rectangular hole in it, the metal looked molten and a smokey smell filled the air, from the hole Jaden saw the source of the banging, looking on in awe at him, it was the human and twi’lek from before. Jaden still didn't know their names, he ducked down and looked at them with a grin.  
“Well I already saved someone's life and i’m not even at the academy yet, this is fortuitous” He joked, the male laughed and waved his hand at the ground, Jaden noticed the standard issue DL-44 blaster in his hand, the twi’lek also had one as well, Jaden assumed they took them from the ship  
“Nah nah nah nah nah, I coulda figured a way out of there on my own” grinned the human at him “There had to be some way anyway”  
“Yeah, my lightsaber” responded Jaden, sheathing the weapon as he did so.  
“Brag” countered the human  
“Hardly” was Jaden's retort, the metal surrounding the breach he’d cut in the hull seemed to have cooled now, Jaden put a finger on it and was relieved to have it not receive any burns, he motioned for the two to come out, which they did moments later, Jaden winced again as he stood, the pain in his leg was annoying but not crippling, and he doubt hed need an amputation.  
“So what's your name? I’m Zara Nilim, nice to meetcha” quipped the Twi’lek, her purple skinned face plastered with a wide smile, she talked very fast, Jaden could deal with a fast talker, the human spoke more slow, he sounded like he chose his words carefully when he spoke.   
“Jaden Korr, who's your friend?” he asked her, the male responded evenly.  
“Lan Duray, pleasure to meet you”  
“So Jaden” said Zara quickly “How’d you get your lightsaber? We don't have one, c'mon, tell us”   
“I uh...I’d rather not share...s’personal” he admitted, truthfully he still didn’t understand the events around his saber making, one morning back on Coruscant he had been sleeping in his bed when a strange pull of what he know understood was the force had drawn him, almost trance like into the workshop, time went by in a blur and when he came to he had made a lightsaber, that had lead to his being enrolled in the Jedi academy. His reverie was broken by Zara tapping him on the shoulder.  
“Jaden?” she asked “Jaden are you okay?” she seemed slightly concerned.  
“I’m fine, why?”  
“You kinda...zoned out there…” she said.  
“Oh...Sorry” he looked around and noticed he couldn't see Lan anywhere  
“It's fine” she shrugged.  
“Should we get going to the temple? We can't be too far away can we?”   
“Don't think so...where's Lan?”  
“He went ahead to scout the path to the Massassi Temple” she shrugged before turning around and heading off towards a pathway that Jaden could make out in the near distance. Ten minutes of walking later, they came across an odd looking reptilian creature on the side of the path near a gnarled tree.  
“Hey Jaden” said Zara “What's that?”  
“How should I know?”  
“I dunno just...curious” she said. As they walked past it a very loud screeching noise came from the creature causing both Jaden and Zara to cover their ears in pain.  
“make ...it...stop!” cried Zara, Jaden didn't know how exactly he could do this when he was in as much pain as she must be, removing his right hand from his ear, he slowly he reached out with his hand, pressed the button for activation, and lobbed in it the creatures direction, the blade found its mark with a satisfying thump and the creatures screeching turned into gurgles and then silence...the blade had stabbed through its throat. Zara looked over at Jaden as he walked over to get his lightsaber from the reptiles corpse.  
“How much have you practiced with that lightsaber?” she asked sounding surprised  
“None” he replied, equally surprised at the hit. After the business with the shrieking reptile was over their walk along the pathway was smoother, the other reptiles of its kind seemed to hold an unusual intelligence for they shied away from the two. More me I suppose thought Jaden. Fifteen minutes later they heard a noise even less welcome than the screech. Blaster fire, both rushed towards the source of the noise only to see Lan pinned down by two...stormtroopers. Zara rushed over to his side while Jaden rushed to an opposite rock, the right side stormtrooper switched his fire to Jaden’s rock  
“Jaden you have a lightsaber, use it!” hissed Lan at him, Jaden nodded and activated his lightsaber, hoping the mere sight of it would cow the troopers, no such luck, one said something to the other and the firing stopped, when Jaden looked up he saw both troopers gone.  
“We’re clear” he called to the other two. Jaden advanced slowly into the clearing ahead, the troopers were still nowhere to be seen and an odd cold that made Jaden nervous swept over him, as he crested a miniature ridge he saw a man dressed in a brown jumpsuit and black mask, he man looked right up at him and pulled out a lightsaber, a red blade shot from its hilt and hummed lowly, Jaden activated his own lightsaber.  
“A Jedi already has a lightsaber?” The man said harshly “This will make a great gift for my master” he lept up at Jaden, Jaden acted on instinct and bought the saber up to meet the man’s, the blades locked, pressing against each other, a high-pitched screech crackling from the blades, blaster fire rang out behind him and suddenly he was free of the bladelock, the man’s saber deactivated and fell to the ground like its wielder. Lan and Zara had shot him. Jaden heard the two stormtroopers from before, one was speaking presumably to his comrade.  
“Doubletime back to the shuttle, we have our orders” Footsteps upon the jungle floor were heard and shrank in volume until they couldn't be heard any more, the stormtroopers had left. Jaden, Lan, and Zara crowded around the corpse of the lightsaber wielder.  
“What was he?” wondered Zara  
“A Sith maybe?” Offered Jaden  
“Don't be ridiculous, he would have killed us if he was a Sith Lord, not the other way around” countered Lan, picking up the lightsaber from the fallen enemy and examining it.  
“Besides, the Sith are all gone” shrugged Zara. Jaden looked over at the lightsaber held in Lan’s palm, it was long, black, and sleek, with ridges carved into the hilt as grooves for a better grip. Lan and Zara observed it too and Jaden guessed they might’ve come to the same conclusion as them.   
“Cmon, let's get to the temple” said Jaden before turning to the clearing in front of them, there was a shallow river just beyond it and before the looming Massassi temple. Calm enough to cross noted Jaden, they all rose and set off for the ancient structure.

|-o-|

The river was cold, not so cold as to cause too great a discomfort, but cold enough that it made Zara shiver, she reflected on what led her to be wading a river to an ancient temple after killing something akin to a Sith...or something, she held in a snort, it was a highly specific set of circumstances, she, Lan, and Jaden reached the shore of the small river only a minute or two afterwards, Zara couldn't tell, a cold feeling of dread washed over her, the three exchanged looks.  
“Did you feel that?’ asked Lan  
“Yeah” responded both Jaden and Zara at the same time, the feeling persisted, Zara was getting nervous, and growing more nervous by the second, Lan gestured to her and Jaden and they headed to a nearby corner of the great and ancient ziggurat. Lan peaked his head around first, a few seconds later he drew his head back and looked concerned.  
“There's a woman down there, with a staff and doing….something to the temple”  
“Well let's go stop her!” from Zara, Jaden nodded in approval “I agree, if it's three against one we might have a chance at stopping her”  
“There's two men there as well, heavy armor it looks”  
“Nevermind” grumbled Jaden. Footsteps clattered along the stones, Zara, who had been facing Jaden, whirled around, all three of them recoiled slightly as the dreadful feeling grew stronger. Then around the corner came a woman, pale skinned and scantily dressed from the waist up, Zara wondered why she would dress in such a way, to seduce opponents she concludes, the woman says not a word, just points the staff at them, Zara saw a great flash of light, then she saw the golden sky, streaked with lines of pink-purple from the setting sun. She tried to sit up but couldn't find the strength, her body was just wracked with soreness, she took a few deep breaths.  
“Glad to see you're all alive” said a male voice, it wasn't Jaden or Lan.  
“So are we” groaned a voice, Jadens  
“Yeah, what happened?” another groan, this time from Lan’s voice.  
“Uh-huh” agreed Zara, she was happy she wasn't dead.   
“Well that is good, a transport is here to pick you three up” continued the voice  
“And who exactly are you?” asked Lan. Zara heard the faint noise of repulsorlifts.  
“I’m Luke Skywalker”


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The training begins

**Chapter 2**

Jaden liked the Jedi Praxeum, though not so much its hospital beds, and the medicals droids, while not lacking in bedside manner, were rather withdrawn, Jaden would have preferred an organic doctor, but he wouldn't be kicking and screaming at the notion of a droid doctor. The two beds next to his were taken by his friends  _ are they my friends?  _ He mused  _ I have only known them for less than a day...but still… _

He looked to his left and then his right and saw Lan and Zara laying unconscious on their own respective beds, under the watchful care of a medical droid, around him he felt the presence of the other Jedi, including some more powerful ones, the masters he presumed. Hours passed and Jaden heard the faint noise of someone waking up, he looked over at his right side, Zara was still out, he looked left and saw Lan stirring.

“Welcome back to  the land of the living, Lan” he called over

“How did we get here?” Was the tired sounding response

“The medical transport droid had us sedated” 

“Oh”

“Zara up?” asked Lan

“No” responded Jaden, he looked over at Zara and noticed her moving as well, she seemed to be waking as well. Jaden dragged himself out of his hospital bed and ran his hands over his head, bumping some of the horns that went from his crown to the back end of his head. He looked back over at Lan, who was doing the same, and at Zara, who was actually beginning to awaken, Lan moved over to Zara to presumably wake her up, Jaden headed out to the hallway after saying farewell to his friend  _ yes I do believe they are my friends _ .

 

The Hallway was sparse, moss lining the grey stone walls of the Praxeum, an intercom rang out from somewhere in the hallway.

“All students and trainers report to the lecture hall for orientation and assignment”

“Well then” muttered Jaden, heading down the hall, pointed by a sign that told him where to go. A short while later he arrived in the lecture hall, there were around thirty Jedi in the hall by his count, the four trainers and Luke Skywalker not counted, so thirty-eight members of the order once he added in himself and his friends, he slipped into the crowd, waiting for luke to speak, a few moments later he did.

“I’d like to welcome all our new students to the Jedi Academy, here we will train you in the ways of The Force, you will learn to defend yourselves with a lightsaber, you will also study diplomacy, History, and more.” he opened with, Jaden looked around as he listened, he saw Kel Dor, Twi’lek, other Zabrak, and even a few other species, even a  _ Zeltron _ was standing among the students. Luke continued “Its has been the practice of the Jedi to assign each student to a Jedi Master or Jedi Knight, however, since there are so few of us we will be assigning multiple students to a master.” he descended from the dais he was standing upon and ushered one of the master's forward and addressing a Kel Dor near Jaden.

“So, Ratharan, you will be assigned to master Horn…” And on it went, masters coming forwards afterwards and taking students from the assembled group, at some point Lan and Zara had filtered in quietly and stood near Jaden, one of the masters approached the three, Jaden recognized him from the holos as Kyle Kataran.

“Looks like you're my new students” he chuckled in an easy tone.

“Master Kataran, it's an honor to serve under you” Said Lan, Kataran looked at him.

“First off, call me Kyle, titles make my skin crawl, Second, you’re not serving under me, I’m teaching and you’re learning, that's all it is” He said, Lan responded abashedly.

“I-Im sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Don't worry Lan” he laughed “You didn’t offend me, I’ve been offended by professionals” he laughed once more before strolling to the exit past Jaden, Zara, and Lan “Now let's see what you three can do, follow me to the training grounds” They followed him out as told. Ten minutes later they arrived at an old ruin that seemed like it had gone through some...restorations, they were in a  courtyard, each, barring Jaden, armed with a lightsaber set to lowest power to ensure no injuries, Kyle spoke.

“This is one of the many training grounds here at the academy, I’m going to put you three on separate courses, Zara you go through that door” he pointed at one on the western wall. “Lan you come with me, and Jaden you go through that door” he pointed at the northern door, Jaden nodded

“Alright” Kyle nodded in return before motioning to Lan and leaving through a door on the southern wall with him, leaving Jaden alone in the courtyard. He proceeded into the room he was directed to and looked around, an overgrown courtyard greeted his eyes. Kyles voice rang out.

“This course will familiarise you with your core force abilities, these are powers that EVERY force user has. As you progress in your training you will learn new abilities, both the light and dark sides will be open to you” that made Jaden ponder,  _ I thought the jedi only used the light? _ , Kyle continued sternly, “Remember, abilities are not inherently good or evil, it's how one uses them. A Jedi is naturally stronger in different areas of the Force, it will be up to you to decide what area to focus on” Jaden saw the logic in that. “Alright let's get started, in the next area you will find some training remotes, these will help you learn how to handle a lightsaber”. The door on the other side of the overgrown courtyard swooshed open and revealed a long mossy and open passageway with a door at its end, just beyond some steps, Jaden drew his yellow bladed lightsaber and continued in, the first remote came down from seemingly nowhere, warbling and blasting at Jaden slowly, blasts sounding like high pitched crackling, it reminded him of his brief lightsaber duel in the jungle, he managed to deflect a few shots but was nonetheless hit in the shoulder, the blast stung like hell but it wasn't debilitating, Jaden focused through his pain and deflected another blast, it flew through the air and struck the remote, the droid shuddered mid air and fell to the ground, Jaden heard another one come down, it was very close too, he swung his lightsaber around and hard a satisfying  _ thunk! _ His saber had disabled the droid. Yet another remote flew down, firing at jaden at a medium pace, Jaden used to opportunity to practice deflection, carefully aiming his blade to ricochet the shots away from the remote so he could continue his practice, a short while later, he deflected a shot into the remote and deactivated it.

“Good job Jaden, you finished first” called down Kyle.

“Yeah...Good job Jaden!” yelled Zara, her voice sounded strained, Jaden guessed she had been hit a decent bit. Jaden continued to the unopened exit door and heard another call down lecture from Kyle.

“Your lightsaber is an invaluable tool, even when inactive it can defuse a potentially volatile situation - Trust me on that, as you train you'll learn additional fighting styles, changing styles in the middle of combat can throw your opponent off guard and allow you to gain the upper hand, from here on out we'll be speaking via comlinks, turn yours on now” Jaden did so and a moment later, the door opened like the last two. Jaden continued into the next room, he was faced with an enclosed river and a broken bridge, his comlink rang with Kyle’s voice.

“Okay Jaden, this is a fairly easy one, use the force to jump across the gap, if you fall just jump back up” Jaden nodded at the instructions and walked to the edge of the small gap, he would need assistance to jump it,  _ The Force’s assistance _ he thought amusedly, the drop wasn't bad either, he would not break anything unless he was exceedingly unlucky, he took a few steps back and prepared himself to jump, thinking about jumping higher than he normally could, he ran towards the gap and lept, he soared right over it and landed with a stumble, he felt elated,  _ he did it,  _ his first conscious feat with the force, it wasn't much but it  _ was  _ something, he happily continued on forwards, being met with a brick wall that looked ready to crumble, his comlink activated again.

“You will have to use force push to get out from here, Jaden” said Kyle, Jaden outstretched his hand and looked at the brick wall, imagining it blowing away in front of him as if it were paper on a breeze, as if the thought bring it on - and it probably did - the wall did just that, bricks slamming into the ground or into the stone structure behind the former wall, some remained intact while others shattered like glass, one particularly tough brick actually  _ rebounded _ off of a larger stone structure and right into...something, jaden couldn't see what but it made a beeping noise, he looked around, wondering what his rouge brick had hit, he was answered seconds later when a large droid with a very yellow - and very real lightsaber came charging out from an alcove in the wall, Jaden activated his own, the droid rushed right for him, Jaden employing a force push on it but to little effect, he was not yet skilled enough for combative force pushing, e brought up his lightsaber blade to deflect a swing but again to no avail, his own swing missed and the droids blade crashed into his hip. Rage, that's what sprang from Jaden’s emotions next, some primal part of his instincts told him to utterly destroy this threat for his own safety, he agreed with it, he growled and brung his blade in a cleave at the droids, the machine easily blocking it but Jaden would have none of it, he bought his blade back and forwards, back and forwards, slamming it repeatedly into his opponent’s. The droid’s defense eventually shattered under Jaden’s onslaught and Jaden sliced right through into its chassis, the lightsaber parted the droid, bisecting it head to groin. Jaden panted and looked at what he’d just done, then he heard his comlink beeping, he activated it and spoke uneasily, what he’d just done unsettled him.

“Kyle?”

“Jaden, I felt a heavy use of the dark side from you, what happened?”

“A training droid came out, it hurt me and...I don't know...something spurred me on, I bisected it…” he panted, the pain from the saber hit to his him was beginning to register, burning through him.

“Jaden can you continue?” asked Kyle, Jaden himself guessed he could, it was only pain.

“...Yes”

“Great” Responded Kyle “Because unless it was a massive wound I would make you continue anyway, being a Jedi means pain, part of the job description I suppose” Kyle chuckled, so did Jaden, it was fairly amusing, he forced himself to continue on to the next room.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter 3**

Zara was in pain, lots of pain, those blasted training remotes still hurt like kriff, she had staggered out of the remote hallway only to be greeted by an empty bridge,  _ what is going to happen here?  _ Now, looking at the bridge from its other side she saw why, she had been meant to jump across a gap, but a durasteel scaffolding platform had other ideas, she looked down at the large courtyard near her, there was some form of destroyed droid, it felt...wrong, something about the specific place was  _ off... _ she scoffed and continued on, the room she found herself in was sparse, mossy stone brick walls like all the others, and a raised platform at the end of the room, Zara giggled in delight and rubbed her hands together.

“Finally, something i'm good at!” she cried as she set about the room, looking for a niche in the wall or a crack, something - anything, that she could grab onto and hoist herself up, after a few minutes of searching se saw some slabs sticking out slightly, she grabbed onto the slabs and carefully made her way up to the raised platform, her comlink then began to go off, she tapped it to answer.

“Well Zara” Said Kyles voice I expected you to wait till I could give you a hint but it looks like you figured out an alternate way up, nice work” His tone was impressed, or sounded it, Zara wasn't the best at discerning tones. She walked along the only pathway afforded to her, through a series of winding corridors and hallways until she reached a courtyard, at the end of it she saw Kyle, Jaden, and Lan all grouped together, Kyle and Jaden waved, Lan called over.

“Zara! Cmon!”. Zaa rushed over to them, things seemed to slow down around her as she ran and she found herself not slowed,  _ odd _ she thought  _ well no use panicking _ she concluded, and kept running, when she got there things returned to their normal speed, and both Jaden and Lan looked somewhat dumbfounded.

“You-You were a blur!” said Jaden

“I could hardly see you!” gasped Lan

“Force Speed” announced Kyle “It appears you have a talent for it, Zara” he said fondly before turning to Lan, Zara noticed the amount of damage on his clothing, and where she saw skin, she saw welts and blisters, and just...wounds, yet Lan seemed to be in little pain.

“Lan? Where you hurt?” she rubbed her own sore-covered arm as she spoke.

“I’m fine” was Lan’s response “I have an aptitude for ‘force protection’ I think it is” something flickered across his face. “Jaden, a word please” his voice had a slightly more serious tone hi time, Zara and Jaden exchanged glances before Jaden left with Kyle to a corner to speak.

 

|-o-|

 

Kyle had taken Jaden aside, out of earshot of the other two and around a stone ruin’s corner.’

“Jaden that was a fairly powerful Dark Side ability you used, that was Force Fury, you need to be careful from now on, using it once means you can tap into it again” Kyles voice was serious, removed of the mirth it usually carried.

“I thought you said both sides of The Force were open to us?”

“Yes but…” he sighed “You need to be careful, the Dark Side is very seductive, if you want to use it without falling you need to counterbalance it with use of the light.” Kyle was still speaking rather sternly, though Jaden expected that, he saw the logic of this too,  _ The Force is like a scale _ he thought  _ If you lean too heavily on one side you push the other side away from on, therefore you should counterbalance your lean with ‘weight’ on the opposing side to ensure balance. _ Jaden nodded.

“Alright Kyle, I’ll be careful”

“Good” responded Kyle, his voice seemed to regain some levity “I trust you will, Jaden”

 

|-o-|

 

Moss was nice to look at, Zara had decided, fifteen minutes earlier, Jaden, Kyle, and Lan had all left the training grounds, they were going to be given missions later in the week but they had two or three days to get acquainted with their fellow Jedi and/or explore the temple and its grounds, so Zara had decided to forego the meet-and-greet - not that she was that good with people anyway - To that end she had decided to make for the droid ‘corpse’ she saw earlier as she crossed the bridge, reaching its spot was not hard, a short walk, shorter drop to the ground, she knelt down upon reaching the droid to touch its charred chassis, she noticed it had been cleaved in two, and by the sizzling and steam coming off the glowing spots where it had been cut, it was recent too.

“Who was running this course?” She wondered aloud, the droid held something curled in its hands, she pryed each finger away from the object one at a time, when she uncovered it she saw what it was, a lightsaber, an  _ actual _ lightsaber, not the training one she had been equipped with, this was the kind of lightsaber that could  _ kill.  _ She activated the blade and saw it’s yellow beam spring to life in front of her, she twirled it around slowly, getting a feel for the weight, heavy and the hilt and light as a feather for the blade, it was only then did she realise the  _ wrong _ feeling had returned to her, bubbling her blood and putting her on edge like she had been at the Massassi Temple... _ The Dark Side _ she realised, someone had used the Dark Side here recently, the feeling scared her deeply, she placed the saber back where it was after reigniting its plasma blade. 

 

Heading back to the temple was a simple affair, just head out either pathway afforded to her, it was a welcome break from the training course’s rigors, when she arrived back in the Jedi Praxeum she saw Kyle leaning on a stone bannister near a staircase, Kyle waved her over.

“Yes Kyle?” she asked as she arrived

“Your first mission is due to start soon, Lan and Jaden have their own and are currently on them” Kyle told her, Zara did not understand how he always sounded so relaxed,.

“I thought they wouldn't start for days?” She asked slightly worriedly, did something happen to change that?

“Most do, but because Jaden already has a lightsaber, you and Lan need to essentially ‘catch up’ with Jaden, otherwise jealousy might foster, i’m sure you know what often comes of that” Zara nodded, it wasn't a hard guess, jealousy bred contempt.

“So where's Jaden then?”

“Tatooine, awaiting my arrival to assist him in some investigations, and Lan is traveling from site to site where lightsaber crystals can be found” that ignited excitement in Zara “So...guess where you will be going?”

“To look for a lightsaber crystal?” she asked excitedly, Kyle nodded.

“Zakuul, Dantooine, the Adega system, places like that hold such crystals”  Kyle patted her on the shoulder, his hands bumped her lekku a bit in the process, causing Zara to flinch ever so slightly.

“Do I get a ship?” she asked, she didn’t really know how to fly so she hoped that she had an autopilot if she got one.

“Yes, a refitted Z-95 Headhunter, the academy managed to get a small fleet of them from the New Republic” Kyle smiled at her and headed up the stairs to the shuttle hangar, he pointed to the opposite staircase “Fighter hangar is that way, good luck Zara!” he called before disappearing behind a corner, Zara smiled at his words and made her way just there, ten minutes of walking through the Praxeum she arrived in an old launch bay, droids and a few New Republic technicians were milling about, preparing starfighters for launches, Zara noticed one or two T-65 X-wings locked down, she presumed one was Grandmaster Skywalker’s, one of the technicians ran up to her, he looked old, sixty maybe, he lead her to a corner as they talked.

“Master Jedi, that old girl” he pointed at a Z-95 in the corner they were headed for “She's yours, used to be mine actually, but I donated ‘er to the temple, gettin too old to be flyin around th’ galaxy anymore” His voice had a fringe accent to it. 

“Oh...thank you, she have a name?” she asked him politely.

“Yeh, she does,  _ milkwater _ ” he said proudly “Though I suspec’ you’l be wantin to change er’ name” slight sadness flecked his voice. Zara would have none of it

“No, I like it, I’ll keep it” It wasn't a lie either, the name was genuinely amusing, besides, Zara was poodoo at making up names, she noted the cockpit hatch opening and an R8-Series droid with deep orange painting on its highlights being lowered into the Astromech slot. The old technicians scratched his head.

“Now that li’l fella there is R8-S8, som’a us call ‘im Rate” he said. Zara looked at the droid, studying it from her lower position.

“Is he yours too?” she asked the old man, he simply shook his head.

“Nah, not quite sure who he belongs too, might just be a temple droid, not too sure...anyways kid, Seeya round, got lotta work to do” he turned and walked off, nodding as Zara bid him farewell, Zara snapped her fingers in slight frustration, the man did her a kindness and she didn’t even know his name, she thought about going to ask him it for a proper goodbye, but he had engaged in some deep conversation about a new line of starfighters by the time Zara looked over, she snorted and climbed into the cockpit, Rate beeped at her, and a message popped up on the internal screen of the fighter.  _ Welcome, Zara Nilim, where are we headed?  _ Zara looked around, adjusting herself to rest her lekku comfortably on her shoulders and noting the cockpit lid sliding back down, eventually sealing with a pneumatic hiss.

“Uhh...What did Kyle say…? Zakuul, that's it, Zakuul”. The screen popped up with another message,  _ Zakuul is located in the unknown regions, it is sparsely populated due to the crumbling ruins and highly deadly swamplands, what are we looking for  _ there  _ of all places? _ Zara hummed as her droid copilot said this.

“A lightsaber crystal, I'm apparently making myself a lightsaber” Once more the computer showed Rate’s message.  _ Accounts say that lightsaber crystals from Zakuul are found in the colors, red, blue, yellow, and pink-red.  _ That made Zara laugh, she imagined a lone hero standing against the forces of darkness, they all arrayed themselves against the hero, crimson blades making them red, and the hero activates their  _ pink _ weapon. She entered coordinates for Zakuul, Rate sent her a message,  _ Zakuul is in the unknown regions, as I said, the travel time will take an estimated 6 hours and 42 minutes.  _ Zara could deal with that, she settled in for a long flight,  _ Milkwater  _ shuddered as Rate started its flight patterns and Zara sat back feeling somewhat useless.

 

Hours passed...long...boring...hours, Rate wasn't wrong it seemed, as six hours and forty five minutes later, Zara saw the planet Zakuul upon exiting hyperspace, it was an ominous sight to behold, once the Eternal Empire had ruled from this world. Its spires were said to have reached up so they that they went through the atmosphere, and space traffic was as busy as coruscant's...but that was millennia ago, she spoke up for the first time in hours.

“Can you scan for locations where lightsaber crystals would grow on Zakuul?” she asked him, his response flashed up on the screen a usual, accompanied by affirmative beeps.  _ Yes, scans show there are large crystal caves located in Zakuul’s swamp known as ‘The Endless Swamp’. Caution is advised due to the untamed wildlife. _

“Thank you Rate” she chuckled, flying her fighter down to the surface was not difficult, nor was following a set of coordinates that Rate had provided her navicomputer, she just got a nice, boring, long, sit. Finally the ship touched down in a clearing near a large craggy cliff with a massive cave mouth in it. Zara exited the starship and looked into the mouth of the cave, wondering how exactly she was meant to find the crystal in there, moreso because her scan had picked up many crystal formations in the cave, she shrugged and decided that it was something to do with the force and continued in.

 

|-o-|

 

On Tatooine it was burning hot - go figure, this thought occurred to Jaden along with how much of a pain it made fighting, it made fighting less comfortable than it already was by virtue of being fighting, he bought his blade up to meet a blaster bolt of the fourteenth thug he'd faced off against in hangar bay J-16, Kyle and he had come to Mos Eisley to look for information on smugglers connections to some nefarious cult, Kyle had gone off to check a cantina for some contacts he had in the city, leaving Jaden to hang around in the hangar and eventually get stuck there with the door locked and tractor beams keeping their ship in, as well as a small army of thugs to fight - alone. The sound of the thug firing snapped Jaden from his reverie and he quickly advanced, deflected shots fired at him almost instinctively, when he closed the gap he rammed the horns on his head into the man's chest, blood oozed out and Jaden felt it against his horns, he pulled them out and drove the saber into the stunned man's arm, the thug slumped to the ground and - holding his stomach wound - began to crawl away, begging for mercy, Jaden leveled the saber to his throat and kept pace with him.

“If you promise not to shoot me, and tell me, are you working with some form of cult?” He kept his saber leveled to the thug, who looked like he was about to wet himself.

“Cult!? W-we aint workin for no cult! ‘Ell! Mosta us ‘re jus’ unloadin cargo!”

“Well here does it come from?” snapped Jaden. The thug flinched.

“I dunno! You were in our karkin hangar though, so we started shootin, then you and yer laser sword started carvin through us like kriffin mynocks!”

“Thank you” Said Jaden earnest before bringing the saber down onto his enemies gun. The thug, who was likely thinking he was about to get axed, shrieked in fear, and looked confused as he noticed he was still alive, then he fell unconscious, likely from the wound, or fright, or perhaps both, and Jaden continued on for the control tower. Upon arrival into the tower he was greeted by a coldness, and the PA crackling to life.

“Welcome Jedi, I would say i’ve been expecting you” The voice a silky core woman's “But that's only been for the past ten minutes, while you've been carving through my men, come up to the control tower, i've been longing to fight one of you” With that the PA shut off and the room fell silent, the lift then dinged and opened, Jaden readied for an ambush but there was no one to greet him with plasma shots, instead he carefully stepped in and pressed the only button lit that read: Ascend. The coldness got stronger and Jaden readied his lightsaber, this was another dark force user. When the lift opened at the top of the tower he was greeted by a lone woman she was of a normal height and had fair skin, dressed in a grey jumpsuit with maroon highlights along the arms, she carried two sabers and each were ignited in her hands, making the room glow faint crimson.

“Well?” the woman asked, mock bowing.

“Well what?” Jaden slowly circled her, her stance remained passive, almost casual despite the deadly weapons she held.

“Aren't you going to ask me to surrender? It is the hero thing to do after all” She still seemed far too relaxed.

“I’m not one for theatrics” Jaden kept his responses pointed and sharp, he could see this woman was trying to make him slip up somehow

“And yet you spared the life of poor Rocum. He could easily have been faking, shot you from behind, ended you for your mercy - oh but where  _ are _ my manners” she tutted “I am Bri Folen, and you?” she kept an innocent look to her face as Jaden stared her down. Jaden said nothing in response, looking discreetly for an edge over her two blades.

“No name hmm? So are we  _ that _ kind of hero or the strong silent type? Perhaps both?” she giggled “No matter, i’m still the better combatant, shall we dance?” she didn’t wait for a response, bringing one saber to meet Jaden's and thrusting forwards with another, aiming to skewer him on it, Jaden scooted to the side and aimed a kick at the saber meant to skewer him, the other blade still occupied on his own. It worked and the blade flung out of Folen’s grasp, Jaden put his foot back onto the ground and watched as his combatant backflipped away and landed on the far side of the room. 

“Well done, Jedi” she laughed, this was getting on Jaden's nerves.

“Stop laughing” he growled at her. This elicited a laugh.

“Oh so serious” she giggled once more “You Jedi are always the same throughout your history, with the exception of a few” This piqued Jaden’s interest, even more then the woman depowering her lightsaber, though he kept his up.

“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.

“Go look through records of the past millennia, they can be found. You're all  _ so  _ stoic and such  _ rubes _ . Never allowing attachment” Jaden could see what she was doing now, and also was faintly aware of the sound of the other saber on the floor rattling, Folen continued. “It's your second biggest mistake” Something clicked in Jaden's head and he sun around and shoved at empty air in the direction of the now airborne and ignited saber, a blast emitted from his hand and shot the saber out the window, Jaden had force pushed it, then he spun around and slammed his blade downwards at his opponent, she bought her own saber up but the force of the slam took her by surprise and the blade was knocked from her hand, Jaden put a boot on her chest and forced her to the ground with it, then leveled his blade to his opponent's throat.  _ Second time in one day i’ve done that _ he noted dimly.

“Who’s the better combatant now?” He growled menacingly at her.

“You. Clearly” The playful and somewhat mocking tone was gone fro her voice, now that she was bested she seemed fearful, understandably. Jaden bent down and took her lightsaber from her. “You’re coming with me, try anything and I’ll run you through on the spot” he wasn't joking. He kept an eye on her as he walked backwards to retrieve the other lightsaber and clipped it along with its sister weapon to the back of his belt, then he went back over to her, stood her up, pinned her arms behind her back with one hand and pushed his now deactivated saber against her back, warning her again what would happen if she tried anything. Leading her out now was easy, the smugglers were all dead, wounded or fled, and Jaden could see Kyle waiting at the door once he reached the docking bay.

“Jaden, the tractor beam isn't down, and who's this?” He asked, same casual tone as usual, though more easy and not mocking.

“She's named Bri Folen, I think she commanded the smugglers here, I took her lightsabers” he handed Kyle them with one hand, Kyle took them and studied them. 

“Good work Jaden, I’ll take her from here, go back and deactivate the tractor beam and we'll be on our way” Nodded Kyle, Jaden nodded back and wheeled around, heading back the way he came.


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter 4**

“Crystals Crystals everywhere and not one is calling to me” hummed Zara, reimagining a line she had heard in a holo once. She had been wandering around a dimly lit cave for the last two hours, nothing but frustration had come of it, she knew from holos that a crystal had to call to its future owner, what exactly this felt like she didn’t know but she assumed she would when it did, there was one area of the cave she’d been avoiding, the pitch black one she couldn't see in, and she didn’t have a light on her, so it was probably very dangerous to enter, for all she knew it led to a straight drop down a ravine. So she kept looking, going through the twisted pathways of the cave searching for a crystal, eventually she came across something she didn’t notice before, some odd shapes in the corner of one part of the cave, she approached them and picked one it, it felt very heavy, she carried the heavy thing through the cave, retracing her steps by using familiar crystal shapes to guide her to the mouth of the cave, when she reached the outside and had suitable light, she looked over the thing she held in her hand, it was a bronze colored helmet, faceplate very triangular and the skull guard branching out in a slightly larger circular shape. Something about it seemed...off, similar to the droid corpse on Yavin but not the same. Rate started beeping from the droid slot of Zara’s ship and she hopped in to see what he was saying.  _ Did you get scared?  _ Read the screen. Zara huffed.

“No? I was in there for two hours why would I be in so long if I was?” Rate beeped again,  _ Two hours? You were in there for two  _ **_minutes_ ** . That couldn't be right, Zara had a concept of time.

“I think you’re malfunctioning, Rate” said Zara.  _ No,  _ **_you’re_ ** _ malfunctioning, two minutes have passed, we landed at 7:32 AM and it is now 7:34 AM _ .

“Rate, you and definitely malfunctioning”  _ I am not! _ Rate’s beeps were more angry sounding now. “Fine, I’ll check my chronometer, just to prove you wrong” she tapped her comlink to bring up the chrono, 7:34 AM it read. 

“Um?”

_ Told you _ . Beeped Rate. Zara grunted in frustration. “What the kriff is going on!?” yelled Zara. Rate bleeped and blooped franticly.  _ I don't know! _ . Zara hopped out of the cockpit, running for the cave and yelling over her shoulder. 

“Keep an eye on the time!” She ran into the mouth and into the darkness of the cave, rounding corners for ten minutes. The she went back to the mouth, shed been in there twelve minutes by her count, she headed back to the ship and checked the screen.  _ Twelve seconds _ read the screen.

“I don't understand” muttered Zara.  _ Why don't I come with you this time?  _ Asked Rate. 

“Sure, company would be nice I suppose” she once again hopped out of the cockpit and watched as Rate did the same with emergency eject. He beeped triumphantly after landing.

“You know I can't understand you, right?” Rate beeped affirmatively. “When we get back to the ship remind me to get binary lessons so I can understand you better” Rate beeped affirmatively again, Zara did know the basics of Binary, an ascending pitch beep meant yes, descending pitch beep meant no. though this was the extent of her knowledge. They headed into the cave together, Rate bumping and jolting along the craggy ground, He flicked on a light from his dome as he rolled along with Zara, who was thankful for the light. 

“There's a section with no light, let's head there” She told Rate, who beeped a yes. The two made their way over ten minutes to that section of the cave in relative silence. Upon reaching the pitch black area, rate shone his light into the place, it was a long passageway, rectangular and obviously man made. Rate beeped negatively.

“You don't think we should go in?” Positive beep.

“Well my crystal could be down there” Negative beep, combined with Rate bumping her beg repeatedly.

“Rate stop it, i’m going in” she headed into the passage, Rate seeming to grumble with beeps and followed, the passageway was long, didn’t bend anywhere, and just kept on going, the stone was grey and smooth with no fissures or cracks anywhere that Zara could see, a niggling sense of fear was bubbling in her gut, something was just plain  _ wrong _ about this place, this may not end very well, she nevertheless pressed on, five minutes of walking later they emerged into a room lit bright by crystals, red ones lining the roof and floor like stalactites and stalagmites respectively, Rate’s light wasn't needed now so he switched it off, Zara slowly walked through the cavern.

“This is amazing” she breathed, Rate slowly beeped an affirmation. He too was impressed, a crystal formation in the corner of the cavern stuck out to her eyes, nothing was distinct about it though.  _ This must be a crystal calling to me...cool _ . She approached it and touched the crystal with a palm, It felt like it had a pulse, one part of the crystal seemed loose so she pried it out, the shard was the size of her pointer finger and had the same pulsating feel to it, Zara gave a small cry of joy, she had found her crystal. Rate gave her an affirmative beep as he wheeled over, then he seemed to notice something and took off to the opposite corner from the one Zara was in, Zara ran after him.

“Where are you going?” she called, aware he couldn't give her a good answer. Rate rounded a corner Zara had not seen from the passageway, it led to a small and similar passage.

“Rate what did you see?” she called. Rate still didn’t answer, for two minutes she chased him, eventually finding herself in a square room, made of that odd smooth stone. And all along the walls was the same kind of helmet she had found earlier, complete with bulky bronze armor, next to these wall-mounted armor sets were shields and what seemed to be poles, _ weapons probably.  _ Noted Zara, she looked around for what riled Rate up, then she saw it, a big machine resting against the far wall, Zara couldn't tell what for, but Rate probably could, he was beeping excitedly near that machine, at the foot of a deactivated white droid with a jetpack mounted on its back, welded into the chassis.

“What is all of this? Rate, did this droid get you excited?” Rate beeped a yes at her. “Any idea what it is?” Negative beep. Zara looked about again, wondering what treasure trove she and Rate had found.

  
  


|-o-|

The  _ Raven's Claw _ sped for the Yavin system, Kyle was in the front of the chip, piloting from the cockpit, and Jaden was in the back of the ship, guarding their prisoner, this Bri Folen woman, she had been put into a ray shielded cage to prevent her from escaping by possibly overpowering Jaden, and Kyle had taken Folen’s lightsabers so if she did get out she’d be unarmed, Jaden knew that if she got out and overpowered him, she’d just take Jaden's lightsaber, but safety precautions were probably the best they could be right now, lacking stun cuffs. 

“So tell me, Jedi” the mocking tone was back “What does your master plan to do with me? Lock me up in some cell to rot? Hmmmm?” Jaden decided to ignore her “Isn't that a rather  _ mean  _ thing to do? Doesn't that lead to the  _ Dark Side?  _ Hmmm?” Her tone wasn't just mocking to Jaden, it was patronizing, and getting hard to ignore. “You are getting frustrated, I can tell” she giggled, Jaden sighed.

“Be quiet” he told her sternly.

“Nah I don't think I will” was the casual response. Jaden turned around and looked at her, she was sitting cross legged in her cage, playing with a loose strand of brown hair. Jaden couldn't help but wonder how someone could remain so casual, even if she was obviously trying to play mind games with him. “Cmon it’s  _ so _ boring in here, let me out”

“Now that was blatant, no” Chuckled Jaden.

“Typical Jedi” Folen tutted, Jaden grunted.

“What would you have me do then?” He asked her pointedly

“Go against the Jedi grain” she listed off what she said on her fingers as she went “Be unorthodox, unpredictable, a wild card, not just some other boring Jedi”

“And how exactly am I to do that?” Asked Jaden, having a slight idea what she might say

“Why the dark si--” She started but was interrupted by Jaden.

“Knew it, knew you were going to say that” he laughed. Folen went back to making whining noises, Jaden just ignored them and leaned against a nearby stack of crates, waiting for her next mocking taunt, he was mildly surprised when no taunts came for the next hour, only to have that surprise and slight relief snatched away when the  _ Ravens Claw  _ Shuddered as it exited hyperspace.  _ Odd. _ Thought Jaden, they weren't supposed to be at Yavin IV for another two hours, he ran to the cockpit.

“Kyle! What's happening!?” he yelled as he ran.

“Jaden! We were intercepted by an immobilizer, strap yourself in and prepare the secondary gun turret!” he pointed at a pulsating yellow button on the copilot's console, Jaden swiftly sat himself in the chair and pressed the button, a targeting computer came slowly down from the roof and Jaden pressed his eyes to the viewing screen to access it, there was an Imperial Immobilizer 418 cruiser sat in space, two  _ Tartan _ -class escort ships alongside it and a squadron of TIE interceptors bearing down on them, Jaden hovered his thumbs over the buttons on top of the side mounted joysticks, the screen read distance, 1000, the TIEs were closing in, Kyle started turning the ship to flee the artificial gravity field but it was rather slow, 900, in range, Jaden pressed on the joysticks and heard the sound of the swerve gun on the top of the hull firing, sending vibrations through the ship, most of his shots missed but on TIE was struck right in the cockpit, exploding into dust, the rest of the interceptors broke formation and scrambled, Jaden swerved the targeting view around, searching for a target.

“Kyle, you know i'm not experienced in the slightest at this, right!?”

“Yeah I know! But it's better than doing nothing!’ was Kyle's response. Jaden found a target and fired, the TIE dodged his shots and turned to run straight for  _ Raven's claw _ , it began to fire the the ship rattled as the shields blocked the blasts but not the force of them. Jaden had a clear line of fire so he took it, the TIE dodged a few shots but its wing was clipped and it pulled off, Jaden saw one of its engines burst in a small explosion that was quickly contained by the vacuum, but the TIE controls must have been lost because it slammed into another TIE and both exploded, Jaden swerved the guns around, iring willy-nilly on any TIE’s in sight, missing more then he hit, the ship rattled a lot and the readout on the Targeting computer told him shields were down to 50%. Jaden managed to destroy another TIE, but now he saw the  _ Tartan _ -class escorts bearing down on them, firing their small turbolaser batteries.

“Kyle! Those escorts are coming!” 

“I know, Jaden, we’re nearly out of the gravity field, keep the TIE’s off us!”. Jaden downed another TIE but its pilot managed to eject, Jaden was aware the pilot was probably dead either way, the imperials likely wouldn't see a black armored figure in the blackness of space. He kept firing, there were probably four or five TIE’s left, but more might come from the immobilizer. Jaden continued to fire still, now at the escort ships, the  _ Tartan’s  _ were built to withstand this kind of fire, the shields just evaporated the shots as they landed without doing any damage. The ship rattled again and a frantic beeping rang around the cockpit. The readout informed Jaden that the hyperdrive was damaged, only one jump could be made and there were 17 systems within range, none of them were Yavin, Jaden knew that it would take a few jumps to get there.

“Kyle! One jump! Where to?”

“Rishi!” said Kyle frustratedly “Plenty of outlaw settlements! Should be a fine fit for our lady friend in the back”. The ship rattled and hummed, then it boosted forwards, entering hyperspace.

 

The ship exited hyperspace a half hour later, Jaden sighed, they at least might be able to send a signal to get help, Rishi had settlements with technology after all. His hopes were dashed when a large bang rang out and the console began flashing, the port engine exploded. 

“Great” deadpanned Kyle “Just what we need, a crash, hold on” The ship entered the atmosphere of Rishi and began descending to the surface rapidly and out of control, heading right for a jungle and coming in too fast to steer away, Jaden braced himself and was rewarded for his preparedness by being thrown face first into the console forehead first.  _ Ouch _ he thought as the ship continued to jlt about violently as it crashed through trees and branches, a half minute later it came to a stop, and Jaden was hurt, a headache and a broken nose he was only faintly aware of, Kyle seemed fine. 

“Agh...Sorry Jaden, bit of a rough landing” he breathed. Jaden rolled his eyes

“Is this one of your better landings? Or worse?” He asked

“Jan’s usually piloting but I wanted to take this one, seems like that was a mistake, lets check on the prisoner” he helped Jaden get up and headed into the back of the ship, Folen was still there, apparently unconscious from the crash.

“What do we do?” asked Jaden “Oh and, it is nice that she finally has shut up, shame it took a shuttle crash to get her to do so”

“Yeah?” chuckled Kyle “She giving you lip?”

“Giggling too much” responded Jaden, “And that, yeah”

“Right” muttered Kyle “Let's let her out, I’ll guard her this time, you go check to see if the holocom is busted”

“Right” nodded Jaden before turning around to do just that, the ship was uneven from the crash, and sparks fell from damaged parts of the walls where things would have been. Jaden reached the communicator and tried to access it, it began to power up before failing and turning off again, Jaden tried again to the same result.

“Its busted!” he called back

“Ah kriff” Kyle yelled back “Well we’ll need to find civilisation around here, scan for it maybe!” Jaden headed to the cockpit and checked the scanners, the readout screen was too cracked to read, and the lights on the console were flickering, one was sparking, when Jaden tried to access the scanners they just failed to work at all, Jaden headed back to Kyle in the cargo hold.

“Everythings fried, I can't tell if it's beyond repair or not”

“Well this is a problem” noted Kyle

“Really? I couldn't tell” Jaden droned sarcastically. Folen began to stir. “Looks like she's waking up” groaned Jaden.

“Good, she can make herself useful” grinned Kyle

“Suppose so” conceded Jaden

“Good, I’ll leave you two to set up camp while I go and find some help, might be hours away, might be days” he didn’t sound very annoyed. Though Jaden was.

“What? Leave me with her? She could run off, or kill me in my sleep!” he was going to give more reasons but ylse held up a hand.

“You'll manage, Jaden” he said easily before sitting Folen down against the wall and strolling out the cargo hold to leave. Jaden sighed and went over multiple possibilities in his head, Folen escapes, Folen kills him, Folen helps, unlikely as that last one is. He waited about for a little while for her to wake up, eventually she did awaken and only 15 minutes after Kyle had left, the Jaden’s chagrin.

“Th’ kriff happened?” she mumbled as she woke up.

“The ship crashed, your to help me set up a camp for however long we’re here” Said Jaden briskly.

“Really? Well at least i'm out, can I have my lightsabers?” 

“No, you cannot, they are with Kyle anyway” 

“You’re no fun” she whined as she stood up.


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do some imperial perspective, so here.

Chapter Five  
A Republic ship had crashed on Rishi, and Captain Aleccon Rowlgor of the ISS Invincible was the one who had caused it. It was a Jedi craft. Scans show it was one known to belong to Jedi Master Kyle Kataran. But the accomplishments of the Captain only made the job of Lieutenant Eli Jant that much harder, he looked out the carrier bay of his landing craft at the other 19 men in the famous Stormtrooper armor, they all sat in silence as the Lambda class shuttle sped towards the surface where the Star Destroyer Byss had seen it go down, Eli understood why only 20 men were sent after two Jedi, one of whom was a master, but it didn’t seem right, Jedi were known by reputation from the Clone Wars, highly skilled fighters, these new Jedi shouldn't logically be much different, and every man in the shuttle knew this. Eli could tell they all thought this was a suicide mission, he did too, what didn’t help is he commanded a team of fresh recruits. Shinies thought Eli, that was a term left over from the Clone Wars that meant a new soldier, that was because of the lack of battle wear on their armor. Eli had grown up in the shadow of the Clone Wars. Born in the last days of it thirty-three years prior, and the effects of that war were felt everywhere, not in the least because that war had buried the Old Republic and paved the way for the Galactic Empire that Eli had dedicated his life to. Now it seemed this might be the last day of his decade long career. Lieutenant wasn't that bad, you got further then you thought he reminded himself. The shuttle bumped from turbulence and the pilot whose name escaped Eli called from the cockpit.  
“Red light” he snapped, Eli knew what it meant, they were coming up on the LZ, his men all heard it too and stood from their uncomfortable waiting benches at attention, as did Eli. A clicking sound resonated almost simultaneously through the carrier bay, blasters being loaded. Eli turned to his men and barked the order they all knew was coming.  
“All troopers present?”  
“TK-5572 reporting sir!” They all stood to attention as they called out their ranks to him, it went on for about half a minute before the last trooper called his name and stood to attention. The shuttle bumped and rumbled but they all stood firm. Eli donned his Stormtrooper helmet and loaded his weapon. The pilot called from the cockpit again and the door began to open.  
“Green light” Eli looked past his men to the jungle outside.  
“Move out! I want an area sweep of the LZ!” he yelled, the sound echoing off the shuttle walls, his men turned about face and fanned out of the shuttle in pairs of two. Eli’s helmet readout told him their designations and heart rates so he could keep a better eye on them in battle. He exited the shuttle last, after TKs 7155 and 9118 left. The area they had landed was a clearing amidst a thick jungle, lush and green and a perfect spot from which an ambush could strike them, his men began chatting among themselves as they conducted sweeps of the clearing and surrounding jungle, Eli allowed it, they were en edge enough and there was no need to startle the shinies more. TK-5783, or Redding as he was nicknamed, though no-one could discern why approached him and saluted.  
“Sir, the area is secure, no signs of any recent bipedal movement” came the voice of Redding through his modulated helmet.  
“Very good Sergeant, have two men guard the shuttle, tell the rest to form up, we’re making our way…” He tapped the buttons on his control wrist pad to bring up the location they were to check. “...North, eighteen klicks” Once upon a time when he was a shinie himself, he had preferred using the proper term of kilometer, but he had since learned to use the phrase that held less syllables.  
“Yes sir” was the automatic response from Redding, who promptly marched off and began delegating orders to the others. Five minutes later, two Stormtroopers stood guard abreast of each other on opposite sides of the boarding ramp. Eli and his men set off north, through the jungle, it was far too thick for proper formation, so Eli let his troops pick their way through as they could but they had to stick within sight of at least two other soldiers otherwise they would call for a stop, this method of travel slowed their small group down some, but it prevented any MIA’s for all four hours of non-stop marching through the thick. Eventually Eli’s readout popped up with a closed message from TK-2257.  
“Sir we’ve been plodding through this kriffin place for four hours, can we rest?” He sounded almost like he was pleading, Eli assumed he was one of the new recruits, maybe a conscript.   
“No we cannot, other than the fact that there is no place to stop here, you shinies need the exercise”  
“Yes sir” grumbled 2257. They all continued on for a quarter hour, stopping only once from a callout before exiting the thick jungle into a large clearing. On the far side of it they saw primitive dwellings made of stone and wood, a few of the houses had smoke rising from their chimneys. One of Eli’s troopers told the rest of them that he saw people milling about, though they likely didn’t need the assistance seeing them, some of those people must of seen them because they began to run inside their dwellings. An unseen bell began to ring from the village. Clang, clang, clang. It was a warning alarm. A blaster shot lanced through the air and struck one of Eli’s troopers in the chest. The cry of battle overtook the Stormtroopers.  
“Man down!” Someone cried  
“Find cover!” Only the trees of the jungle behind them, so that is where the troopers retreated to. Eli’s HUD told him the shot trooper was TK-2257, his armor had absorbed the shot mostly, but 2257 was nevertheless unconscious. Eli’s squadron began to return fire from the trees, the targets were close enough to see them drop. The two groups began trading hails of blaster fire, three of Eli’s troops were shot, two of those died. There would be time to mourn later. The attackers in the village were dropping like flies now. Eli’s men fighting with a newfound fury because of their comrades deaths. Three minutes of non-stop fighting lter and the last visible target dropped to the ground. Eli ordered TK-7155 forwards to pull 2257 to cover. Another minute of silence passed, 7155 and 2257 were not shot by a hidden assailant, so Eli guessed they might be in the clear.  
“Forwards to the village men, spread far out, I don't want any more casualties.” Elis remaining men all nodded to him and began to do just that, running into the clearing very spread apart from each other, Eli followed suit. They all reached the corners of the village within a few minutes. The assailants from before lay dead or dying in the centre of the village. Victims of their own stupidity Thought Eli grimly.  
“Move to the centre” he ordered through coms to all the troopers “Kill the soldiers” His men all affirmed the order to him and walked into the centre, shooting the wounded soldiers as they went. Eli hated doing it but it was the only way to quash the enemy without resorting to massacre of innocent civilians. When the wounded all lay dead with their fellows Eli ordered them to check the bodies for any identification. He could see no uniforms so he guessed they weren't New Republic. His troopers checked body after body.   
“Sir, none of them bear any military markers and some of this equipment is leftover from the Clone Wars, best guess is they were a militia of some sort.” Reported TK-3354. Eli was about to respond but a communication from an imperial shuttle interrupted him.  
“Lieutenant Eli Jant here”  
“Lieutenant” came a harsh voice through his helmet's internal speakers “Your command of this search is being relieved by Urrus Slyg of the Disciples of Ragnos” Eli shifted uncomfortably, he’d heard the rumors circulating from the command down to the line soldiers, but he’d assumed they were blown out of proportion. Eli knew what that meant though, a force-user akin to a Jedi was leading their search from now on. A Lambda class shuttle whooshed overhead and landed in the clearing behind the village.  
“Men, form up, two ranks!” Out of the nose boarding ramp of the newly-landed shuttle came a cloaked figure. Eli felt a sense of unnerving cold wash over him, as did his men. The cloaked figure marched forwards. Eli noted as much as he could. Six feet tall, humanoid based on his shape. Then the figure was in front of him, he spoke in that harsh, vaguely arrogant tone as before.   
“Lieutenant. Why has this village not been cleansed?”  
“Sir the occupants of the houses are innocents, their militia was probably startled by the sight of Stormtrooper armor and opened fire as a result.”  
“Men of this village fired upon Imperial troops?”  
“Yes sir” Eli responded cautiously, he did not like the way this was going one bit.  
“Continue your search for the Jedi, Lieutenant. I will deal with this village myself” he didn’t wait for Eli’s answer, pushing past him with a billow of his grey cloak.  
“Deal how?” Eli heard himself say, though he knew what the man meant. Slyg payed him no heed and marched for one of the far houses on the eastern side.   
“You heard him men, move out” they set off north again at a slow pace, they had just reached the edge of the jungle when the screaming began behind them.


End file.
